What are the Top Undergraduate Animation Schools?

Many post secondary schools across the country offer programs in animation.  While no one school is perfect for absolutely everyone, it is always helpful to get a feel for how schools rate against each other as a place to start when you begin looking at various schools.  With that in mind, here’s a little information on a few of the leaders in the study of animation:

The University of Southern California (USC) offers a Bachelor of Arts degree in animation and digital arts.  Being located in Los Angeles, California, the animation program at USC is provided through their School of Cinematic Arts, which is part of the College of Letters, Arts and Sciences.  This program includes theatre and humanities classes to enlighten students on multicultural issues and how art can be used to propagate social change.  Through the program, students explore interactive and experimental animation, as well as character animation and visual effects.  To complete the degree, a senior project is required and will include document research, production and post production work.

Brigham-Young University in Salt Lake City, Utah offers a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in animation.  Their program is provided through the Fulton College of Engineering and Technology.  It is a special enrollment program and only a few, select sophomores are invited to participate annually.  These students are high achievers and are expected to maintain these achievement levels throughout the program.  Areas of study within the curriculum include media design, creating story boards, hand drawing, figure drawing, photography, and computer animation.  Students will be trained for working in studios and special effects and coursework may include an internship.  Completion of the degree will require a capstone project for graduation.

The University of Idaho offers a completely different perspective on animation through their Bachelor of Science in Virtual Technology and Design.  From their campus in Coeur D’Alene, Idaho, this school provides a program with focus on the technological aspects of animation.  This program uses technology, physics, cutting edge software, and multimedia communications to teach multi-dimensional design and modeling.  They incorporate the more traditional aspects of animation, like sketching, art history and creating story boards, to compliment the high tech aspect and prepare their graduates for a career in animation.

In addition to these three schools, there are many others scattered across the country that rate very well in the field of animation.  The programs offered by the various schools are just as diverse as the geographic locations of the institutions, not to mention there is an assortment of distinguished schools that offer their animation programs through distance learning online.  The distinctive characteristics of each school and each program are as unique as the prospective students, so there really is no way for one school to be perfect for everyone.